Late afternoon, my partner and I had just hiked down and were organizing at that intersection where Pony Express meets the 'feeder' trail to East Wall routes. There were maybe 6-8 other hikers and climbers hanging out and everything was pretty calm and relaxed when all-of-a-sudden someone yelled "FIRE!!!". Crackling sounds - roughly behind that large rock on the north side - and a tree was on fire! We grabbed our random pile of stuff and ran a few yards upwind for safety to cram everything into the packs, where I took this shot.

Seconds after the fire broke out

Credit: Trad Muenter

We and many other folks, I'm sure, ran back as fast as they could to report it. Huge thanks to all the fire personnel who jumped into action to control that fire so efficiently!

General location, from Lower Buttress:

Credit: Trad Muenter

Working on the fire...

Credit: Trad Muenter

I am still puzzled though, at how a fire could break out like that. It was too far off the trail for someone to have, say, tossed a cigarette. It was a warm afternoon. Can something like that happen spontaneously? There's a power line nearby. Could that be a factor? (I don't think this was too close to the Hogsback trail, either.)

My partner and I had just finished East Crack (5.8) and walked back to the car at Slippery Ford. We were sitting by the river drinkin' a beer and having a snack when we saw the smoke. We decided to bail and drove up to the road and called 911. They were already in response mode. We saw a bunch of fire trucks, cops, and ambulances racing toward Strawberry on our way back to the Lake...Crazy!